Musk muses on middle-class Mars colony
SpaceX boss Elon Musk has said that later this year or in early 2013 he will announce a plan to offer flights to Mars and back for half a million dollars, hopefully within the next decade. In an interview with the BBC, Musk said that the final pieces of the plan had now been sorted out, and he was confident SpaceX could set up a …
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Re: Open your mind!
I had to scroll past about 25 comments to find this gem! And no, you are not the first person to think that - but are you like me, also thinking about three-breasted women?
I'm up-voting yo' ass! To Mars!!!!
The final frontier.
If the middle classes have to sell all their stuff for a ticket to Mars they'll be penniless when they get there. Planet of the tramps, it would seem.
The other thing is that it's notoriously difficult to land stuff on Mars. I'm not quite sure what the percentages of hits vs. fails are, but from what I remember it's rather dismal - (imperial units, metric measurements, etc., and so forth). So the way I see it you could be stuck on a small rocket with some lousy people for 6 months just to get yourself splattered all over Mars when you get there. Sounds like fun. Perhaps a good crash after 6 months of cabin fever would be a nice way to relieve boredom.
And I sure hope that radiation shield works.
Re: The final frontier.
"If the middle classes have to sell all their stuff for a ticket to Mars they'll be penniless when they get there. Planet of the tramps, it would seem."
Yeah cos money is going to be *so* useful out there they'd be fools not to take any.
Re: The final frontier.
Presumably the landing difficulties wouldn't be as bad with a human pilot. IIRC part of the problem doing proper landings on Mars is a communications delay measured in minutes -- far too slow to respond to unexpected conditions, so you have to automate it and pray.
I'd go...except I need permanent meds that would be unavailable on Mars. :-( A shame; I'd like to see a real frontier.
Re: The final frontier. @Sceptic Tank
Crikey - I wonder if they will try out all this tech before putting people on it. Or are they just going to take pot luck and hope it all works first time....Hmmm...
/sarcasm.
"Essentially, a middle class person could sell all their stuff on Earth and move to Mars if they want to."
And die immediately. Yay.
Pedoplanet!
Transporting undesirables to Mars reminds me of Brass Eye - but it will be very important to make sure an 8 year old boy doesnt accidentally get loaded into the spaceship...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRRw1ERj2Gc
Musk said, "The most important thing is to ensure that we preserve the future of humanity, and we do everything we can to ensure that human civilization will last as long as possible. The longer we last, the more we'll learn and the more we'll discover. I'm most concerned with securing the longevity of humanity."
"Out of the Silent Planet" anyone?
Why?
Saving what and WHY? we're already doing great screwing up THIS planet. Our civilization needs to be re-booted, failed experiment, move on. NEXT! http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/mushroom_32.png
Bullshit
"I'm most concerned with securing the longevity of humanity." .
"the ultimate goal is to get humanity off a single planet to ensure the continuation of the species."
"a column of water pointed at the Sun would provide protection from solar storms"
"Martian atmosphere (for humans)!!.
The only thing that concerns him is to get enough people investing money into something
with a very large part of "small print".
Good luck, still.
GET REAL
OK, so it's now financially plausible to plan this idiotic trip/concept.
Let's see: What's so fun about going into space? Really!
Reality CHECK:
It's just about total vacuum out there, the human body can survive no more than a few secs
a scorching 180º+ in sunlight,
and about -240º in shade.
You cannot survive for any length of time without gravity, your body will deteriorate
the radiation levels are mind-altering,
and your reliance is on technology that is as light and as complex as is necessary to get you up there. Things do break and wear out. Up there, this isn't not an option
Risk is more than huge, and SHOULD you get to Mars, -oh please, GO- again you'll be relying on technology and resupply that is at best several long months away from potential use/realization.
So you want to be cooped up in the tiniest of spaces, without privacy, with a group of very high strung type 1A people, who probably also have great difficulty just getting along. There are few choices here and simple hygiene -and even waste disposal- is very complex.
NO THANKS, I'm here on our warm, sunny, fuzzy, clean, huge planet with all amenities, and choices- the options of a simple W/C and a BMW to hop on and get away from it all. My option. Btew, here You also can commit suicide much cheaper than that half mill....
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